


Missing

by juggieheadcoopers



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Kidnapping, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 12:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10787121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juggieheadcoopers/pseuds/juggieheadcoopers
Summary: Betty gets kidnapped and her friends band together to search for her





	1. Where Is Betty?

**Author's Note:**

> **Warning: This fic touches on the subject of kidnapping. Although it is not graphic, it still might be a sensitive subject for certain readers.**
> 
> I've decided to add one last part to this, but be warned that it might take awhile for me to write it lol. Thanks for reading and commenting, it means a lot!!

**6:54pm**

Betty Cooper stood on the curb across the street from Pop’s, smiling to herself as she watched her friends filing into a booth closest to the window. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out her phone and dialed her sister’s number.

“Hey, Polly it’s me,” she said into the phone, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets as she stepped to the side and let the family in front of her cross the street. “I’m almost to Pop’s so I can’t talk long, but I just - I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you. I know you probably don’t hear that often, especially from mom and dad, but I just thought you should know that you’re probably one of the strongest people I’ve ever known. I don’t think I could have gone through what you’re going through right now and come out of it a better person but you - you’re raising your baby the way you think is right and you’re doing it on your own. You’re an incredible sister and mother and friend and I just - I wanted to tell you how much I love you. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow okay? I can’t wait to squish that little nephew of mine’s cheeks! Bye!”

Betty slid her phone back into her bag before looking both ways for oncoming traffic, and crossing the street. Once she made it safely across, she noticed a familiar face leaning against the side wall, and quickly hurried over to greet her.

“Hey, Josie!” Betty called out to her. “Can’t wait to hear you and the pussycats at the parade tomorrow!”

“Well, I expect another rave review from a certain school newspaper, that’s for sure,” Josie told her, raising one eyebrow at her expectantly as she adjusted the cat ears on top of her head.

“You know me, I only write the truth,” Betty reminded her, taking a step backwards as she headed for the front entrance of the diner. “See ya!”

Josie waved goodbye before hopping into the car that just pulled alongside the curb, making Betty the only person left in the parking lot. Just as she was about to pull open the door to Pop’s, a noise coming from the alleyway on the opposite side of the restaurant struck her attention.

“Hello?” Betty called out to the empty parking lot. “Is someone there?” 

When no one answered, Betty was ready to deem herself a fool and head inside the diner like nothing happened until a figure crossing the parking lot towards the alley - letterman jacket, dark hair, tall build - drew her attention back to the strange noise.

“Reggie, is that you?” Betty asked as she took a few steps into the dark alley. “Reggie?” 

Rounding the corner, Betty stepped into the alley to find the man facing in the opposite direction, his face completely hidden from her view.

“Reggie, what are you-” Before Betty could get the words out, the man turned around to reveal his face to her, causing Betty’s heart to pound rapidly in her chest as the fear began to set in. 

“You’re not Reggie,” Betty muttered, her breath catching in her throat as she heard movement coming from all around her in the alley. 

“No, love,” the man growled, his voice low and rough as he signaled for his menacing companions to creep up behind her. “Can’t say that I am.” 

With a quick nod of his head, the man stepped away from Betty and allowed for three men to grab her from behind and lift her into the air.

“No, get away from me! Get awa-” Betty tried to call out for help, kicking and screaming as they carried her through the alley, but it was too late. One of the men had silenced her by placing his giant hand over her mouth, his grip tightening as he threw her into a van at the back of the alley.

No one had heard her cry for help. No one was coming to save her. She was alone and she had no idea how she was going to escape.

–

**7:32pm**

“I can’t believe you ordered that.”

Veronica took one look at the giant burger that the waitress had just set in front of Archie and raised an eyebrow at him in mock-disgust. “Do you know what that much grease is going to do to your skin?”

“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me,” Archie sighed, looking from the hamburger, to Veronica, and back again, an amused tone to his voice. 

“Hey, Veronica, have you heard from Betty?” Jughead wanted to know, his brows furrowing together in concern as he looked over his shoulder for what felt like the hundredth time since they had filed into the booth half an hour ago. “She should be here by now.” 

“Not since our phone call earlier,” Veronica informed him, picking up a fry from the plate in front of her and waving it dramatically in Jughead’s direction. “She insisted that my leather mini I bought online last week wasn’t going to make look like a bloated cow, but I told her that-”

“What time was that?”Jughead cut her off, his patience beginning to run thin at Veronica’s incessant need to change the subject back to anything to do with fashion. “Your phone call?”

“Uh, around 5:30 I think,” Veronica answered, her forehead scrunching together as she thought back to the conversation in question.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Veronica assured him, pushing the plate of fries away and narrowing her eyes at Jughead. “Okay, what’s with the spontaneous game of 20 Questions: Betty Cooper edition? Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know,” Jughead muttered, his gaze focused on nothing in particular in front of him. When he noticed all of his friends’ eyes on him, he quickly shook his head out of its trance and turned to them with a reassuring smile. “I mean no, of course nothing’s wrong.” 

Skeptically, Veronica pulled her gaze away from Jughead and turned to Kevin. “Anyway, Kev, what’s your take on the skirt situation?” 

Letting his friends continue their conversation, Jughead slid out of the booth to a quieter section of the diner and pulled out his phone.

“Uh, hey, Bets, it’s me,” Jughead greeted his girlfriend’s voicemail, his hand sliding up and down the back of his neck nervously as he tried to keep his voice calm. “I told myself that I was never going to play this sort of role in my lifetime for fear of becoming just like every underdeveloped male character in a romantic drama, but with you I can’t seem to help it. I’m starting to get really worried, Bets. I know there’s probably a logical explanation for your not being here but I’m to the point where I can’t think of one that makes any shred of sense to me. So when you get this, can you please call me back so we can both laugh about how much of a fool I am together please? I just - I want to know that you’re safe.”

Just as Jughead clicked off his phone and turned to head back to the booth, a figure heading in the opposite direction caused him to slam directly into their chest and nearly knock him into booth next to them.

“Oh, sorry, Arch,” Jughead mumbled as he looked up to see his longtime friend staring at him with concerned eyes. “Didn’t see you there.”

“Jug, what’s going on?” Archie asked. “You’ve been acting strange since we got here. Does this have something to do with Betty not being here yet?” 

“Of course not. People can be late, Archie,” Jughead reminded him, his eyes darting to the floor as he attempted to avoid Archie’s gaze. “That’s not an abnormal thing to occur, especially for teenagers.” 

“It is for Betty,” Archie pointed out. “She was an hour and a half early for our Kindergarten graduation, Jughead. And if you remember correctly, she made sure that all of us were the first ones at the door to take the SAT’s last month. She texted us hours before we had to be there to make sure we were up and ready to go. Betty hasn’t been late a day in her life and there’s no way that she would start now, not when she had that important announcement she wanted to share with us tonight.”

Jughead fidgeted uncomfortably next to Archie, his mind screaming at him to tell him that he was right, but his heart too terrified to admit the truth.

“You think something’s wrong,” Archie concluded, and Jughead’s head snapped up to meet his gaze.

“No, I don’t-”

“Come on, Jughead, I know you,” Archie reminded him, his voice dropping to a whisper as he let a few of their classmates headed for an open booth pass them. “You’re really worried.”

“I just - I have this feeling,” Jughead struggled to explain himself, his words coming out rushed and unsure. “It feels like something’s not right. And I know her, Archie. She would have called me if she was running late. She would have made sure that one of us knew where she was.” 

“I agree,” Archie concurred. “So let’s go find her.”

“You don’t think I’m crazy?” 

“You know Betty better than anyone, Jughead,” Archie explained, reaching up to clap a reassuring hand on one of Jughead’s shoulders. “If you say something’s not right, then I believe you.” 

“It’s probably nothing,” Jughead backpedaled quickly - a way of assuring himself more than anyone, that his girlfriend really was just fine. “I’m probably freaking out for no reason and she’s just at home with her parents or with Polly or I don’t know, staying late at the Blue and Gold and forgot to tell me.” 

“Okay, well let’s go find out for sure so we can have a good laugh about this later, okay?” Archie suggested, knocking back Jughead’s shoulder in an attempt to get him to crack a smile. When he gave a faint nod, Archie took that as an affirmative and gestured towards the door. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Archie, wait,” Jughead stopped him, placing a hand on his arm to swing him back around so that they were facing their friends. “We should tell the others.” 

“After you,” Archie let Jughead pass him before heading to the booth to join their friends, both of them shuffling their feet as they walked through the diner to stand in front of the table with troubled expressions evident on their faces. 

“Something is wrong I knew it,” Veronica declared the second she looked up from her phone to take note of Jughead’s furrowed brows and deep frown. “Did Cheryl make Dilton Doiley wear the mascot head again? Did he pass out like last time? God, I thought I told her to-”

“It’s Betty,” Archie explained, his eyes drifting to Jughead standing next to him, his arms crossed in front of his chest. “Jughead and I think that something might have happened.” 

“She’s not answering her phone and I haven’t heard from her since right before she left to come here,” Jughead continued. “It’s not like her and I’m - I’m starting to get worried.”

Without another word, Veronica slid out of the booth, slinging her bag over her shoulder and turning to face her friends with a look of determination.

“What do you need us to do?” Veronica asked, her brows drawing together in concern as her thoughts drifted off to where her best friend could possibly be. 

“I think we should spread out, look at all the places where we think she might be,” Archie suggested, turning to Jughead for confirmation. When he nodded, Archie continued on with his plan like they were heading off into battle. “Jughead and Veronica, you take the Cooper’s house while Kevin and I check the school. In the meantime, Veronica can you-”

“Already sent a mass text to everyone in our class telling them to let me know if they’ve heard from her in the last hour or so,” Veronica explained. “If anyone’s seen her, we should know within the next few minutes or so. We’re going to find her, Jughead, I promise.”

“First rule as a mystery or horror novelist, Veronica,” Jughead muttered, his eyes dropping to the ground. “Never allow your characters to make promises they can’t keep.”

“Well, this isn’t some Stephen King novel,” Veronica reminded him. “This is real life, and she’s Betty Cooper. The B to my V. Your girlfriend. And we won’t stop looking until she’s back in that booth with us, enjoying a strawberry milkshake like it’s just any other day. That’s a promise I can keep.”

**8:23pm**

“Are you sure this thing’s sturdy?” Veronica called up to Jughead as she slowly made her way up the ladder leading to Betty’s room.“I mean, I’m really not wearing the right shoes for this. If this $150 heel gets stuck in that rung, I’m so sending you the bill to get it repaired.”

“Well, would you rather go through the front door and explain to her parents what we’re doing here?” Jughead asked, glancing down to watch Veronica take one nervous step at a time from his spot at the top of the ladder. 

“If she really is missing, Jughead, we’re going to have to tell them,” Veronica pointed out, clutching the rung above her with both hands as she waited for Jughead to make his way to the window. 

“She’s not missing,” Jughead muttered under his breath, placing his flashlight under his arm as he fiddled with opening the window. “We’re just going to have a look around her room - see if we find any clues that might tell us where she is.” 

“Are you sure that the window is even going to be-” Veronica started to say as she watched Jughead struggle with the window, but quickly silenced herself as he slid it open with such ease that made it seem like it hadn’t even been locked in the first place. “So this is why you guys look so happy all the time. You have an all-access, sneak-in-anytime-you-want, booty call entrance.” 

“Would you just stop talking and start climbing,” Jughead snapped, locking the window into place and stepping into Betty’s bedroom. 

“Sir, yes sir,” Veronica mocked, carefully swinging her legs around and hoisting herself into the room.

Jughead shut the window behind her and stuffed the flashlight into his back pocket as he casually began to peruse Betty’s desk, lifting up papers and various odds and ends that looked like they could be hiding something.

“What are we looking for exactly?” Veronica wanted to know, crossing the room to run her hand along the quilt that Betty’s grandmother had made for when she was younger, feeling the fragile fabric with her fingers as she sat along the foot of her bed. 

“Notes, books, any sort of hint that might suggest she made a stop before she came to meet us at Pop’s,” Jughead explained, leaving the mahogany desk to rummage through the trashcan that sat alongside it. 

“Well even if she did, I doubt she would have left anything in her room about it,” Veronica pointed out, hopping off the bed to join Jughead by Betty’s closet. “That girl’s been more secretive than ever lately, especially with her parents poking around here all the time.” 

“That’s why you need to know her favorite hiding spots,” Jughead mumbled, his head snapping up as if a thought suddenly occurred to him. His feet moving quickly, he made his way to Betty’s bedside table and began rummaging through it until he found the screwdriver he remembered her mentioning a few weeks ago. Once he had what he was looking for, he turned around to face the wall closest to the bed and crouched down to the floor. 

“The air vents?” Veronica questioned, skepticism evident in her tone. “Isn’t that a little, Veronica Mars?” 

“It might be outdated, but it works like a charm,” Jughead informed her, twisting the screws until the frame popped off and setting it onto the floor next to him. Reaching inside, Jughead pulled out a thick leather-bound journal and held it out to show Veronica. 

“Great, now I’m going to have to explain to Betty why I’ve been sneaking into her room with her boyfriend and reading her diary,” Veronica mumbled. “This goes against so many girl codes I can’t even tell you.” 

“Be quiet a second,” Jughead shushed her, flipping to the last page in the journal and reading intently. 

“What is it?” Veronica leaned in to see what Jughead was looking at, gently jerking the book away from him and pointing it in her direction. “Did you find something that might tell us where she is?”

“I can’t believe it,” Jughead breathed, his eyes going wide as he finished reading the rest of the page. “She actually did it. She actually-” 

“What the hell are you two delinquents doing in my daughter’s room?” 

Veronica and Jughead spun around to find Mrs. Cooper standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips and her eyes shooting daggers in their direction.

“Mrs. Cooper,” Veronica said in a small voice. “We were just-”

“Save it, I don’t want to waste my time hearing half-assed excuses from the likes of you two,” Mrs. Cooper ran a tired hand down her face as she took as few steps into Betty’s room. “Now, would one of you like to tell me where she is? Last time I checked, she was supposed to be having dinner with both of you at that little diner she loves so much right about now.” 

“Um,” Veronica whispered, exchanging a worried glance with Jughead as she scrambled to think of something -anything- to say to her.

“Well, go on then,” Mrs. Cooper pressed. “Stop bumbling like you forgot how to speak - where is she?”

“We don’t know,” Jughead admitted, a defeated expression crossing his face as he lifted his gaze to meet her angry eyes. 

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Mrs. Cooper narrowed her eyes at Jughead. “Where is my daughter?”

“She was supposed to meet us over an hour ago,” Jughead explained. “She never showed up and we haven’t heard form her since.” 

“That’s not like her,” Mrs. Cooper concluded, turning her back to Jughead as she called out to her husband. “Hal, get in here!”

“And there’s something else you should know,” Jughead added, holding out Betty’s journal for her mother to see. “I found this - it’s Betty’s journal. She was documenting everything she knew about the murder investigation and what she knew about Jason and Polly. I mean, this goes back to just after Jason was pronounced missing over the summer. Anyway, this last entry is from today and I think…” Jughead trailed off, turning to look at the faces staring at him with terrified expressions. 

“What?” Mrs. Cooper urged him to continue, her hand resting gently on the journal as she pried it from Jughead’s grasp. 

“I think she finally figured out who murdered Jason Blossom.” 

**11:03pm**

“Hello?” Betty’s voice echoed off the walls of the dark warehouse she had been taken to, her eyes searching in the darkness for any sign of movement. “If you’re going to take an unarmed minor in the middle of a dark alley, at least show yourselves so I can see what a bunch of cowards really look like!” 

Betty thrashed against the chair she had been strapped to, her hands wriggling uncomfortably between the rope that linked them together.

“She’s a lively one,” a voice came from somewhere behind her, causing her to jump slightly in her chair at its abruptness and turn towards the source. “Definitely not what I expected from the youngest Cooper girl. Polly, maybe, your mother, definitely. But little Elizabeth - not so much.” 

“Who are you?” Betty demanded, her head whipping in every direction as she tried to determine who it was she was speaking to. “What do you want?” 

“I just want to have a little chat,” the voice said, the nonchalantness in its tone causing Betty’s cheeks to redden with anger. And while she could never have explained it, there was a familiarity to that voice that made her feel even more uneasy than she had only a moment before. 

“I don’t talk to strangers,” Betty spat, her frustration becoming more and more apparent as her kidnapper continued to remain anonymous. “That’s the first lesson they taught us in preschool, if you can remember that far back.” 

“Oh, but I’m not a stranger,” the voice admitted, sounding much louder and clearer as it came closer and closer to Betty. “You know exactly who I am - and you know exactly what I’ve done. And you see, Betty Cooper, that’s a problem.” 

Suddenly, a figure emerged from the darkness to reveal its identity to Betty. Her blood ran cold as she took in this person’s appearance, recognition flashing across her face as they took a step into the light.

“It was you,” Betty breathed, a shudder running down her spine as the mystery that she had been obsessed with for months finally came into her view. “You killed Jason. I was right.”

“Congratulations,” her kidnapper said dryly, clapping slowly as they came around the chair to place a firm hand around her neck. “Here’s your grand prize.”

Betty shut her eyes, letting her mind drift to thoughts of her friends and family - to thoughts of Jughead. She remembered the way his lips felt when they kissed hers. She remembered the way he made her smile when he cracked dumb jokes about authors that no one but she understood. And she hoped more than anything, that she would get a chance to be with him like that again - if only for a moment.


	2. Found, But Still Lost

**10:32pm**

“Betty!”

Jughead pushed his way through the low-hanging branches and overgrown bushes that took up the majority of the woods, frantically searching behind tree after tree for anything that might lead him back to Betty.

“Betty, are you there!?” His voice rang out in the silence of the night, echoing off dark skies and still wildlife. 

“Jughead, we’ve been looking for over two hours,” Veronica pointed out, tightening her jacket around herself as a violent chill overtook her body. “She’s not here.” 

“We have to keep looking,” Jughead insisted, kicking through the dead leaves coating the forest floor as he stepped in front of Veronica. “She can’t just be gone, she has to be here somewhere.” 

“I know, and we will keep looking,” Veronica promised, pulling lightly of Jughead’s arm to stop him from going any further. “But I think that we need to take a break, regroup, and come up with a new plan.” 

“She’s been gone for too long,” Jughead muttered, rubbing his hand across his forehead as if to get rid of a massive headache that was causing him immense pain. “Anything could have happened to her. She could be hurt, she could - I swear to god if that son of a bitch touched a hair on her head-”

“We can’t go there,” Veronica reminded him. “We have to keep thinking that everything’s going to be okay, we can’t go to that dark place or we’ll never come out of it.”

“I can’t lose her, Veronica, I can’t-” Jughead’s voice broke as he turned away from Veronica. He hadn’t let himself feel this vulnerable in front of anyone but Betty before, and now that she was the reason for his tears, he felt like he had no other choice but to let them fall. 

“Hey,” Veronica looped around Jughead to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. She’s coming home. I promised you that much, and Veronica Lodge always keeps her promises.” 

“But we’ve looked everywhere,” Jughead reminded her, already feeling defeat prickling at the back of his mind. “The woods, the school, the park, every place she could have possibly gone that was within a walking distance from Pop’s and we haven’t found a thing.”

Veronica’s phone buzzed in her back pocket and she slid it out to read the text that just popped up on the screen.

“Maybe we haven’t found anything because we were looking for places she could have been instead of Pop’s,” Veronica suggested, letting the words she had just read on her phone inspire her to find a clue that would lead them back to her best friend. 

“You’re saying she might have been taken outside of Pop’s?” Jughead put two and two together, furrowing his brows in confusion as he tried to understand what she was saying. “But how is that possible? We were all inside, right by the window. We would have seen something.” 

“Not if she was taken in the alleyway,” Veronica pointed out, the thought of this sending another chill down her spine. 

“But why would Betty go through the alley?” Jughead asked. “Her house is a straight shot to the diner, right down the block. She wouldn’t have needed to take a shortcut.”

“Maybe she wasn’t trying to take a shortcut,” Veronica guessed. “You and I both know that Betty is way too smart to cut through a dark alley alone, at night, especially when there’s still a murderer on the loose. So she had to have seen someone, or something, that concerned her enough to investigate. Maybe a friend in danger, perhaps?”

“What makes you say that?” 

“I just got this text from Josie,” Veronica explained, holding the phone out for him to see. “Apparently she saw Betty around 7:00pm, right outside of Pop’s. She was waiting for Val’s brother to pick her up for pussycats rehearsal when she saw Betty about to head inside the diner.”

“What?” Jughead’s heart lurched at the sound of Betty’s name and the fact that someone had seen her right before she disappeared. “What did she say to her? Did she see Betty get taken?” 

“She got into the car just as Betty reached the door,” Veronica explained, causing Jughead’s face to fall in defeat. “But she realized she dropped her lipgloss on the sidewalk, so she got out back to grab it. That’s when she saw Betty heading for the alley, calling out someone’s name.” 

“Who’s name?” Jughead pressed, his heart pounding wildly in his chest. “Who did she see?” 

Veronica tucked her phone back into her pocket before turning back around to raise a curious eyebrow in his direction. 

“Reggie.” 

–

**11:53pm**

Betty wriggled uncomfortably in the cold metal chair that her kidnapper had strapped her to almost five hours ago.

“My friends are going to find me you know,” Betty spat, wishing desperately that she could check the bruise she could feel forming at the corner of her eye in a mirror. “They’re just as good at sleuthing as I am, if not better. They’ll figure out where you’re keeping me, and then Sheriff Keller will get to lock you up for good.”

“No one’s coming for you,” her kidnapper taunted, their voice low and menacing as they paced along the dusty floor of the warehouse in front of her. “You know why? Because this whole town is too damn self-absorbed to notice anyone but themselves. They’re consumed by power and wealth and status, but when someone else is in trouble, they turn a blind eye, completely unaware that anyone else even exists.”

“It’s funny,” Betty scoffed, her laugh coming out dark and humorless. “You didn’t just describe the whole town. You just described the Blossoms.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?” her kidnapper shot back. “The Blossoms are Riverdale. They always have been.” 

“So you kill their only son? And for what?” Betty demanded to know. “To teach his parents a lesson?” 

“You’re the grade-A super sleuth, Betty Cooper. You should know that there’s always more to a person’s story than what’s just on the surface.”

“You wanted revenge,” Betty answered, her eyes glaring at Jason’s killer like they were nothing more than a piece of gum stuck on the bottom of her shoe. “And you got it. That’s all I need to know to understand that you’re a monster.” 

“I’m not the monster here, Ms. Cooper,” they reminded her, taking a step closer to Betty and kneeling down right in front of her. “This town, and everything it stands for - that’s the enemy here, not me.” 

“My friends are coming for me because they’re nothing like the people you’ve chosen to hate,” Betty pointed out, her voice sounding strong and confident while everything inside of her was screaming at her to give up. “They have good hearts and they care about me. And they’re smarter than you and your little goons could ever be.”

“You’re wrong.”

Jason’s killer placed either hand on the armrests of Betty’s chair, leaning in so close that Betty could feel their hot breath on her cheek. “And I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you figure that out.”

–

**12:01am**

“Reggie, open the door!” 

Veronica pounded on the front door to the Mantle’s luxurious home at the edge of town, grateful to find out that his parents were out of town for the weekend.

“Whatever it is, I didn’t do it,” Reggie yelled through the door. “Go away.”

“Would you just-” Veronica jiggled the door knob as hard as she could, hoping that by shaking it enough, it would miraculously unlock. “Reggie, I swear to you on my favorite Dolce and Gabbana silk dress that if you don’t open this door right now I’ll tell the whole school about the time I saw you naked in the locker room and when I looked down you-” 

“Okay!” Reggie conceded, quickly undoing the latch from the door and swinging it open. “Okay, jeez, did you really have to bring that up again?”

“Desperate times, Reggie dear,” Veronica smirked as she pushed her way past Reggie to enter his house. 

“What’s he doing here?” Reggie peeked around Veronica to watch Jughead file in behind her, his jaw firmly set as he snapped his head up to meet Reggie’s gaze. 

“Where is she?” Jughead demanded, his eyes ablaze with fury as he took a step closer to Reggie. 

“Where’s who?”

“Reggie, I’m not playing games with you, tell me where she is!” Jughead used every bit of strength he had to slam Reggie into the front door, his head snapping backwards as it hit the door frame with a bang.

“Whoa!” Veronica dove between the two before Reggie could retaliate, placing her hands on either of their chests in an attempt to keep them separated. “Okay, let’s take the testosterone down like sixty notches, we’re all a little stressed here.” 

Jughead stepped away from Reggie, shoving his hands into his pockets as he made the effort to distance himself from him as much as possible.

“Now, that we’re calm,” Veronica started, turning to Reggie with serious eyes. “Reggie, we need to know if you saw Betty tonight. It’s important that you tell us everything.”

“I swear, I haven’t seen Betty,” Reggie admitted. “I was at Chuck’s house all night, watching the game. You can ask him, he’ll tell you.” 

“I swore to myself that I wouldn’t utter another word to that foul beast of a teenage boy if my life depended on it,” Veronica muttered, pushing her hair away from her face and crossing her arms in front of her chest. “So we’re going to have to take your word for it.” 

“But Josie said she heard Betty call your name as she headed into the alley next to Pop’s,” Jughead informed him. “She said she saw your letterman jacket.” 

“I knew someone stole that thing!” Reggie exclaimed. “I’ve been looking for it all day.” 

“When’s the last time you saw it?” Veronica asked, turning back to give Jughead a quizzical look as they tried to piece together what was happening. 

“Uh, practice yesterday I guess,” Reggie shrugged, his eyebrows drawing together as he thought back to the events from the previous day. “I left it on the bench in the locker room and I haven’t seen it since.” 

“Whoever took her wanted her to think that it was Reggie walking into that alley,” Veronica pieced together the information, her forehead wrinkling in confusion as a few key details still remained unsolved. “But why would they think she would have followed him? No offense, but I didn’t even know you guys were friends.” 

“I might not have seen her tonight,” Reggie admitted, a look of guilt washing over his face has his head tilted down to meet Veronica’s eyes. “But I did see her yesterday.”

“Why?” Jughead wanted to know, his temper calm enough to take a step closer to Reggie. 

“She was asking around about Jason’s murder,” Reggie explained. “I told her something that I didn’t tell the police - something that I didn’t think was important at the time. Turns out, she thought it was pretty meaningful because she threw her arms around me and ran out of the room all giddy or whatever.” 

“She thought that whatever you told her was going to lead her straight to the killer,” Jughead concluded, another wave of anger and guilt taking over as he thought of all the ways he should have been there to stop all of this from happening. “God, I should have known she was doing all this, I should have been there to help her.” 

“Why weren’t you?” Reggie asked, not unkindly. “Not that I care, but I thought you guys were into the whole investigation thing together?”

“I was helping my dad,” Jughead explained, a dark shadow crossing over his face, but completely disappearing before anyone could notice. “He needed me to… Never mind. It’s not important. What’s important now is finding Betty. And that means that Reggie, you have to tell Sheriff Keller everything you just told us - including what you told Betty yesterday.” 

Just then, a memory of an entry that Betty wrote in her journal crossed her mind, directly connected to what Reggie had just told them. A phone call that Jason made right before Cheryl and Jason’s boat ride from hell, seemingly unimportant on its own, happened to be the key to everything when coupled with all the other evidence. It was like a light clicked on in Jughead’s brain, and he suddenly understood. He now knew what Betty had known before she was taken.

“Okay,” Veronica began, taking a step backwards to meet Jughead’s gaze. “Then what? It might take them hours to figure out where she might be based on this information. ” 

“It won’t matter,” Jughead admitted, crossing the foyer to place a hand on the front door handle. “Because I know exactly where she is.” 

“How?” Reggie asked, confusion written all over his face. 

“Because I know who killed Jason Blossom.” 

–

**1:13am**

All she could see was darkness. There was nothing in front of her, but she knew that there was someone around her, watching. She was losing hope. She would never admit it out loud, but she was terrified that no one was coming to find her. She was alone. She would always be alone. And she had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was never going to make it out of this dark place alive.

–

**3:10am**

“She has to be here!” Jughead sprinted through the empty warehouse, his eyes darting from one end to the next as he searched for Betty. “I know she’s here, I know it!” 

“Jughead, it’s an empty factory!” Archie, who had joined back up with the rest of the group after Jughead and Veronica left Reggie’s house, pointed out as he took a look around the room himself. “No one’s been here for years!” 

“This isn’t happening,” Jughead muttered, his voice barely coming out above a whisper. “She can’t be gone, she’s here!” 

“Jughead, you must not have gotten the right place,” Veronica suggested, her voice calm and soothing as she tried to make Jughead feel like all hope was not lost. “Let’s go back to Sheriff Keller and-” 

“Shhh!” Jughead cut Veronica off, his heart beating loudly in his chest as he concentrated on listening to everything around him. He wasn’t sure if he was hearing things, or if his head was playing tricks on him, but he swore he could hear a faint struggle on the other side of the wall at the edge of the warehouse. 

And then he did hear it. His name. Her voice. It was all he could think about ever since they determined that she had been kidnapped almost seven hours ago, and it was actually happening.

“Jughead!” Betty’s voice called out to him, faint, but still there, and Jughead bolted to the other end of the warehouse without a second thought. 

“Betty!” Jughead breathed, banging on the wall with his fist and looking for an opening that would lead him right to her. “That’s her! That’s her, I can hear her!” 

“There’s no one here, Jughead,” Archie told him, his brows drawing together as he watched his friend frantically searching the wall for some sort of handle that would slide open to reveal a hidden room. 

“It was on the other side of this wall,” Jughead explained. “I could hear her right there!” 

“Well if she was here, she’s gone now,” Archie said solemnly, pulling lightly on Jughead’s shoulder to guide him away from the wall. 

“I’m calling the Sheriff,” Veronica informed them, already pulling her phone from her pocket and dialing the number. “Maybe he can track them down if he knows where they were keeping her.”

“She was here,” Jughead sunk to the ground in defeat, tears stinging his eyes at the thought of being so close to finding her and coming up short. “God, she was so close and I lost her. I never got to tell her. I never got to tell her and now she’ll never know.”

Slowly, Jughead pulled off his beanie and buried his head in his hands. He had lost all hope, and he had no idea where to go from there.

“I know, Jughead.”

A voice coming from the other side of the warehouse caused Jughead spring to his feet, spinning around to find Betty walking slowly towards him.

“Believe me, I know,” she breathed, tears filling her eyes as her gaze locked on Jughead’s and never wavered. 

“How sweet.” Another voice coming from behind Betty made Jughead’s head snap up in concern, reminding him that they were in danger. “Lovers reunited. Too bad this isn’t some fairytale romance with a happy ending.”

In one quick motion, Betty’s kidnapper took hold of her neck from behind and quickly pointed his gun to her temple.

“It was you,” Jughead muttered in a low voice, his anger flaring up again as he made a break for the gun. “You son-of-a-bitch, let her go!” 

“Take a step closer and I pull the trigger,” the kidnapper warned. “I killed one spoiled teenager in this town, I can kill another one.” 

“Please,” Jughead begged. “Take me - just let her go and take me. I was a part of this investigation too. I’ll do anything, just - don’t hurt her.” 

“Interesting,” the kidnapper whispered. “I didn’t peg FP Jones’ son to be the selfless type. Guess everyone in this town isn’t as predictable as I thought.” 

There was a moment of silence in which Betty closed her eyes, breathing and hoping that she could have one last chance to feel what it was like to have Jughead’s arms wrapped around her.

“You want her back?” the kidnapper growled, lowering the gun and shoving Betty towards Jughead. “Fine. You can have her.” 

Betty stumbled forward, nearly falling to the warehouse floor until Jughead rushed to catch her in his arms.

“Are you okay?” Jughead breathed, brushing her hair out of the way so he could inspect every inch of her beautiful face. 

“I am now,” Betty whispered, clutching onto Jughead’s arms, too afraid to let go. 

“You want to compare yourselves to Romeo and Juliet,” the kidnapper taunted, holding up the gun so that it was perfectly positioned to hit both targets. “Then you deserve an ending like theirs.” 

“I love you,” Jughead mouthed, his gaze focused on Betty and only Betty as they waited for Betty’s kidnapper, Jason’s murderer, and the person who they thought they could trust only a few weeks ago, to pull the trigger. 

“Freeze!” 

The door swung open and Sheriff Keller came charging forward with a dozen police officers as backup, shuffling in behind him to fill the room. Time stood still for Betty as she watched the kidnapper’s finger press on the trigger and let go. Before she could think, breathe, move, the shot rang out and Betty froze, sliding her hand into Jughead’s at the last second before facing what might be the last moment she would ever have, beside the boy she loved with all of heart.


End file.
